


Destiny's Prison

by ssa_archivist



Category: Smallville
Genre: Drama, Futurefic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-05-31
Updated: 2003-05-31
Packaged: 2017-11-01 06:46:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/353325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssa_archivist/pseuds/ssa_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the future, Lex returns to Smallville.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Destiny's Prison

## Destiny's Prison

by TMar

<http://tmar.za.net/slash/>

* * *

Disclaimer:  
The following is written for the private entertainment of fans. No infringement of any copyrights held by anybody is intended. This story is not for profit. The author makes no claims on the Smallville characters or their portrayal by the creation of this story. So there. ;) 

Author's Notes: 

  1. This is kind of a long meditation more than a story. It just spilled out of me and I thought, what the heck, polish it and turn it into a story. So here it is. 
  2. The song quoted in the story is "The Prison" by Melissa Etheridge, from her album "Skin". However, I only used quotes from the song to separate scenes and points of view and for a bit of mood. This is NOT a songfic! 
  3. This story has not been beta-read; however, it has been proofread, edited, re-read and spell-checked (and I let the spell-checker change all my British spellings to American ones). Any strange punctuation choices in the story are there on purpose. :) 
  4. Feedback would be greatly appreciated. 



* * *

Destiny's Prison  
By T'Mar 

* * *

  * I was high and dry __
  * Like the Kansas sky __



Ever since they had parted ways, Lex had always wondered just when things had gone wrong between him and Clark. When Clark wouldn't tell him things? When he lied to Clark, knowing that if his friend found out, that would be it? They had always had secrets, and those secrets had built an impenetrable wall around them that even Superman couldn't breach. 

Superman. Lex hated him with a passion he had never felt before, not even for his father... and he had never thought it possible to hate anyone as much as he had hated Lionel Luthor. Every scheme Lex came up with, every dastardly deed he did, Superman was there to foil it. And it wasn't that Superman foiled his plans over and over that made Lex boil with hatred, but the fact that doing it was just who he was. 

That was the worst thing. He didn't want to stop Lex because he hated Lex; he didn't want to stop Lex because he was in competition with Lex. He just did it because it was the right thing to do. Lex hated that even more. Lex wanted to be first in people's lives; heaven knew, he'd never been first in anybody's life except for his mother's. But he knew - he just _knew_ that even when Superman was foiling his plans, he was on the lookout for a kitten to save, or a bank robbery to prevent. All in a day's work. Damn him. 

Lex drove through the countryside towards Smallville. Somehow his thoughts always turned to Superman, even when he was trying to get away from the Man of Steel by going back... home. He'd hated the mansion when he'd lived in it; hated the small town and the people who'd never accepted him... but something about the place always said 'home' to him. Maybe because his destiny had been forged here, in a Kansas cornfield. 

He wasn't sure whether he wanted to see Clark, or not. Superman did rescues, and Clark's reporter partner wrote stories about them. Clark helped her on some, and wrote feelgood pieces at other times. He'd never thought Clark would end up being a reporter like that spunky girl he'd hung out with in high school. Chloe Sullivan. He really should have had her killed, but the part of him that had been Clark's friend hadn't allowed it. No, Chloe had been offered a great job in London, and to London she had gone. Ten years, and she'd never returned. He knew she sent letters and emails to Clark, but they hadn't seen each other since the day she'd left. 

Lex pulled up at the mansion and just looked at it. He hadn't been here for ten years, either. Not since Clark had looked at him with such disappointment. Not since Clark had denied their friendship; called him a liar. That day, Lex had just stood there and taken it. He'd wanted to yell at Clark, tell him that it cut both ways, that he had video footage of Clark at the museum, that he had experts who knew what had caused the damage to the Porsche, that Nixon had known more than he'd told... But he hadn't. Clark would be better off without him. Without having to make up stories, without having to lie. Let Clark have a normal life, if such a thing was possible in Smallville. Let him shed the stigma of being Lex Luthor's friend. 

Clark had taken Lex's heart with him that day when he'd left the mansion for the last time. 

  * If I ached for any more __
  * I knew I'd surely die __



Clark sat back and rubbed his stomach with satisfaction. "Thanks, Mom. That was great." 

Martha Kent just laughed. "I bet you eat instant food in Metropolis." 

Clark blushed slightly. "A lot, yeah. Lois can't cook." 

His father laughed. "So, are things serious between you two?" 

A dark shadow came over Clark's face. He'd thought things were serious with Lana... and zip. Chloe had left for London with nary a glace backward... and Lois just wanted the Pulitzer Prize. "We date, but I'm not sure that it can be called serious." 

Jonathan sighed. "Clark, you can't still be mooning over Lana." 

Clark had never told his father about his falling-out with Lex. One day, Lex had been there, and the next day not. Lex had bigger fish to fry in Metropolis; it hadn't been unexpected really. And Clark knew he'd never be able to tell anyone about the huge gaping hole in his chest, left by a person he'd never realized he'd loved. 

"It's not Lana. It's just... I care about Lois, but..." He trailed off. He could never tell them the truth; he could never tell anyone the truth. Lois wasn't Lex. 

"Is she in love with Superman?" Martha asked suddenly. It was easy to read between the lines of some of Lois's articles and see that there was, at the very least, a case of hero worship going on. 

Clark took the way out, even if it wasn't the whole truth. "She keeps telling me she'd give anything for a night with him." He smiled somewhat sadly. "I wonder what she'd say if she knew she already had what she wanted." 

"Whoa, Clark, too much information there, son!" Jonathan interjected. 

"Yeah." He was an adult; he was sleeping with Lois. It was fine. But he knew he'd never get over the wanting inside him... the wanting of a man who, without knowing it, hated him. 

Martha tried changing the subject. "Mrs Casey told me she saw a Lamborghini driving past her place today. Do you think it was Lex?" 

Clark shook his head. "Lex only rides in limos now," he said. "Sometimes he races a car or two for charity events." 

"But a Lamborghini, in Smallville?" 

Clark shrugged. He knew about the limo thing because that's what Lex had told Lois when he'd still been trying to wine and dine her in the hope of having an 'in' at the Planet. Lois had signed his non-disclosure agreement before one of their several dinners. She hadn't been able to write about anything Lex had told her, but she'd told Clark one night in bed. They'd been tipsy and giggling, and Lois had felt the need to tell Clark _everything_ she'd learned about Lex Luthor. 

The fact that he hated silk sheets and only bought cotton percale from an exclusive shop in South Africa. The fact that he _did_ wear silk boxers to bed. The fact that he liked to be on top. 

Clark had felt tremendously guilty, but he'd quizzed his partner on everything she had done in bed with the billionaire. But he never forgot Lois's bottom-line statement: "To him it was business, Clark. Grab a condom, make the reporter come so hard she nearly passes out, then ask if she'd mind not running the story about the anonymous buy-out of two banks that control a lot of real estate." Lois had told Lex where to go, grabbed her things and left. And she'd run the story. 

Lois had never dated Lex again, and Clark had flatly refused to try to get an interview, even after Perry had threatened his job. The pain was too much. He would stop Lex's schemes as Superman; he would write stories about them as Clark Kent; but he would never, ever, if he could help it, face Lex again. 

  * Night after night trying to get out of my skin __
  * Day after lonely day you'd send me back again __



Clark had been back to Smallville weekly since leaving for the city, but having his parents bring up Lex had been hard. It brought back things he didn't want to think about. Which explained why he was here, in Riley Field, at 3 a.m. Sometime, he wasn't sure when, Lex had told him that it was here that the meteorite had stuck - the one which had taken his hair. And it was here that Clark had been strung up as the scarecrow. It was here that Lex had saved him. Why couldn't he have saved Lex? 

A million times since that night, Clark had wondered what would have happened if he hadn't confronted Lex with what he knew. If, instead, he'd told Lex that he loved him. Would Lex have pushed him away? Kept him as a friend? Returned his feelings? He had no way of knowing, but he felt that it would have been better than being mortal enemies for ten years. 

Clark knew Lex had done bad things. Destroyed lives. Had people killed. He knew. But every time he wanted to condemn Lex for those things, he remembered that he owed his father's life to Lex as well. It didn't quite balance things out, but it tipped the scales enough to make him want to save Lex, redeem Lex. 

And he tried. He foiled every scheme Lex had in which people were likely to get hurt or die. He stopped Lex from destroying lives and livelihoods. And when Lex tried to kill him - or, rather, Superman - he didn't take it personally. Lex would try to get rid of any obstacle on his path to greatness. 

But every time - every _single_ time - Lex spoke to him, told him that his days in Metropolis were numbered, Clark had to restrain himself from shedding the Superman guise, going down on his knees and begging Lex to forgive him, take him back, as a friend if nothing else. He wondered how long a person could live with a hole the size of Kansas in their chest. 

  * I have stood inside this prison __
  * I have touched its stony walls __



Lex pulled the Lamborghini to the side of the road. It had been over a decade, but he remembered the way here as though he had driven it yesterday. His life had been forever altered in this cornfield. And he'd had a chance to give back to the person who had saved his life. 

Clark. Lex had tried to learn his secrets, not because of the secrets themselves, but because he'd wanted to understand Clark. He never had, and now doubted that he ever would. He had spies watching Clark, opening his mail, reading his email, listening in on his phone calls. But all he'd learned from that was that Clark led a pretty average life for a newspaper reporter, and that Clark and Lois were sleeping together. 

That hadn't been much of a surprise. Lois clearly had a thing for tall, dark and hazel-eyed. Lex had photographs of them having sex in Lois's apartment. The woman never closed her curtains properly. 

Lex had seen dozens of pictures of people having sex, himself included. They always looked faintly ridiculous. But the close-ups of Clark looked... sad. As though Clark didn't really want to be there. Lex had fucked Lois, so he knew she was good in bed. But although Clark said all the right things and held Lois afterwards, murmuring comforting things (Lex had tapes, of course), his face never looked happy. And Lois never seemed to notice. 

He could never have told Clark how he felt. He knew that. Clark had been too young, too straight, too in love with that simpering girl. But he'd wanted to. He still wanted to. He wanted Clark to look at him the way he'd looked at Lana, wanted to hear those bedroom endearments that Clark gave so freely to Lois. Wanted Clark to hold him in those strong arms. Wanted Clark to pull him back from the brink, from the dark side, his own personal Luke Skywalker. Without Clark, all he wanted was money and power. It was the only thing that could fill the void left by the enigmatic farm boy. With Clark... he wouldn't need all that. Clark's arms would be enough. 

Even evil billionaires bent on world domination could have dreams. 

  * I know before you try to run __
  * You gotta learn to crawl __



Clark sat under the scarecrow post, idly wondering if the football teams still chose a freshman each year and traumatized them the way he and Jeremy had been traumatized. He remembered so clearly what it had felt like to be in contact with the meteor rock. With the _Kryptonite_. How weak it had made him, how he had struggled to breathe, how he had thought that he'd die out here, strung up in a field because he'd dared to love the wrong person. The quarterback was supposed to love the cheerleader, not the resident geek. 

And then suddenly, Lex had been there. Pulling the ropes away, getting him down, offering help. He'd had too much on his plate to say much then, but now he wondered what would have happened if he'd hugged Lex and thanked him. 

It didn't matter; water under the bridge. What was done was done. He was who he was, and Lex was who Lex was. He'd avoided Lex for ten years as Clark while seeing him at least weekly as Superman. He wished that Lex was redeemable, that things hadn't happened as they had. But he knew he'd probably carry around this ache for as long as he lived. 

There was a rustling noise all of a sudden. Clark looked up to see... everything he'd ever dreamed of. 

Lex had hardly changed in ten years. He looked older, a little, but to Clark he could have been the same young man who'd saved him from being another hate crime statistic. 

  * I tried to leave it all behind me __
  * I drove all night just to drive all day __



Lex came to a halt in the field as he saw who it was sitting under the post. It was as though the intervening years had melted away and this was their second meeting all over again. "Clark?" 

The light in Clark's eyes was unmistakable. He looked... scared. Wary. "Lex." 

"My God, Clark, what are you doing here?" Lex stopped and knelt down next to him. It was almost a reflex, never mind that his four thousand dollar pants were getting dirty. 

What did it matter? He'd rejected Lex once, and been miserable for ten years. He wouldn't do it again. Clark looked into those changeable eyes and told the truth. 

"I was remembering. I saved you, you saved me." 

"We saved each other. I remember." 

Those ten years melted even further. "It only makes sense when I'm here, Lex. In Smallville. Then I can remember what we were to each other. The stuff of legends, remember? Not some billionaire and the reporter who chronicles his dealings. Just two friends, Lex and Clark, no hatred or vendettas or lies. Just the two of us, forging a bond." Clark's voice dropped so low as to be almost inaudible. "I thought it would be forever." 

"It can be," Lex replied. "Clark, it can be." 

"Only here, now, when the rest of the world doesn't exist. When _Superman_ doesn't exist. When lies and secrets don't separate us." 

Lex scooted closer. He could _feel_ the hole in his heart filling up. He couldn't let this opportunity slip away. On that path lay madness, lay the dark side. And this time, no Jedi of his own to save him. "Ask me anything, Clark. Anything. I'll tell you." 

"Why did you want to know my secrets?" 

"Because they were part of you. Because I wanted to know all of _you_. Because..." He paused. He had to do it, or lose Clark forever. "Because I loved you. I loved you from the minute I hit you with my car, Clark. And I know I did." 

Clark looked deep into Lex's eyes. "Yes, you did. I resented that, that you kept asking those questions. I was afraid." Clark took Lex's hands. "I'm not afraid now." He squared his shoulders, and... changed. 

An distant observer wouldn't have been able to tell what had happened, but Lex felt the difference in the vibe right away. "You're Superman." 

"Yes." 

Lex looked down at the ground, then into Clark's eyes. He let out a long, shaky breath. It seemed as if all the hatred flowed out of him with the air he expelled. "I knew," he said. "My God. I knew." He closed his eyes. "How could I have not... known that I knew?" But he knew why. It had been too painful, this knowledge. Better to keep it from himself than find himself hating his best friend. Than learning he wasn't first in the life of the only person besides his mother who had ever mattered to him. 

Now there was only the truth left. "I love you, Clark. Everything I did... was to get your attention." 

Clark studied those blue eyes. "You never lost it, Lex. I loved you, and I never knew that, either, until you left. Why do you think I went to Metropolis? It wasn't for the journalism scholarship. It was just to be near you." 

They were still not touching. "Why did we waste so much time?" Lex asked. "I've done things..." 

"'Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you in Heaven for,'" Clark quoted. That had been their favourite movie long ago, when things had been simpler. 

"You'd forgive me?" 

"I have to," Clark said. "How could I love you, and not forgive you? I forgave you every time. I will _always_ forgive you." 

Lex let himself relax, and allowed himself to touch Clark. He leaned into him, arms winding around Clark tightly. Not that it mattered how tightly he held him; Superman wouldn't break. Superman could take it. Strange how Superman could take every kind of abuse he, Lex Luthor, had conjured up over the years, and it was love that had brought him to this place, the place where coping was not an option. 

  * But the walls of this prison still surround me __
  * And I can't break away __



Clark let his own arms wrap around Lex. This was the man he loved; the man he had _always_ loved. They sat there under the post and were just Clark and Lex again. 

Just Clark and Lex. Clark let the tears fall, and he wasn't sure whether they were tears of happiness for having finally gotten what he'd wanted, or tears of sadness for having wasted so much time. 

"I love you, Lex," he said, and it was as though saying the words - just those three words, untempered by qualifiers - loosened something inside of him. And suddenly he couldn't _stop_ saying it. "I love you. Lex, I love you. I love you so much." 

  * I held you so close I thought my soul would break __
  * But you were just a ghost; the holiest mistake __



The words were a balm to Lex's soul. Clark was holding him so tightly that he felt his ribs creaking, but he didn't care. He wanted to be held in those strong arms, wanted to feel Clark's strength around him, wanted to die in them if need be. And he'd said the words once, and could say them again. "I love you, Clark. I do." 

Clark finally released him and looked into his eyes. "I want us to make love, Lex. Now. Here. Please." 

Lex had wondered what Clark would be like during sex since the day he'd met him. And denying what Clark was to him had never worked. Everybody had known. Martha had known, but she'd always liked him. His _father_ had known, he now knew. And no doubt the bastard had found amusement in the fact that he felt compelled to deny it. And Jonathan Kent. Oh, he had definitely known. No wonder he'd tried to keep Clark away. 

Lex looked into Clark's hazel eyes and whispered, "Fuck me." 

Clark sat up straighter as a bolt of electricity zinged through him. "Lex..." 

"It's all I ever wanted." He shed his jacket and began to unbutton his $800 shirt. As he looked up from the last button, he saw his friend unbuttoning plaid flannel. Then Clark seemed to get frustrated with the T-shirt he had on underneath and ripped it off with nary any effort at all. They looked into each other's eyes then, and it was a race to get pants, underwear, shoes and socks off. 

Finally, they were naked as they knelt facing each other in a Kansas cornfield. Then Clark reached out, and Lex followed suit, and they were together, naked flesh against naked flesh. 

Finally. 

  * I will not be a judge or the one to set you free __
  * I'll just keep on drivin', and time's a friend to me __



This had to be the third defining moment of his life, Lex thought as he lay on his back on fertile soil, his legs over Clark's shoulders. Funny how the defining moments were all tied up with cornfields and Smallville. Maybe it was destiny. He'd told Clark once that they had a destiny. 

Now Lex thought that this was it. It was their destiny to be here like this, him with Clark's cock deep inside him. He'd dreamt about it for years and then tried to forget the dreams for years after. But sometimes, if you were lucky, dreams did come true. 

Lex closed his eyes momentarily and thought that few others would ever know the pleasure of being fucked by Superman. But then, he wasn't being fucked by Superman. He was _being made love to_ by Clark Kent, the man he loved. 

Lex opened his eyes and looked into Clark's even as he felt the pleasure building. Clark was going to come inside him, and their destiny would be sealed. He fisted his own erection then, more because he didn't want Clark to leave him behind than anything. He clenched his muscles around Clark's cock, crossed his legs behind Clark's head knowing it wouldn't hurt him, cried out, "Clark!" and came, shooting all over his own chest. 

  * The sentence has been read everything is done __
  * I wish I could say goodbye to you, wish I could hold the sun __



Clark literally saw stars as he came inside Lex. He'd never thought he'd get a chance to be with Lex this way. So this is what it felt like to make love to the person you were supposed to be with. It was... right. 

Clark carefully slid out and away from Lex, putting him down. Then he enfolded Lex in his arms and sat them both up against the scarecrow post. 

He didn't know how long they sat there; he thought they might have even drifted off to sleep for a little while. But the sky started to lighten, and Lex stirred in his arms. 

"Do you think they still tie freshmen up out here?" 

Clark was embarrassed because if they did, he should have stopped it. Should have come here in his costume and given them a stern Super-lecture on why this kind of hazing was a bad thing. Maybe he still would. No, he definitely would. "I'll make them stop, Lex." 

Lex looked up at him. "I know you will. Truth, justice and the American way. Hate crimes are un-American." 

"And yours?" It was the first time they had ever spoken honestly about all the things Lex had done. Clark had said it didn't matter, and it didn't. But he couldn't let it continue. 

"I don't need to control the world if I have you," Lex said. 

"You bought into your father's ideas of what you should be like." 

"I accomplished what I did without him," Lex said. "And I hated you. Well, Superman." 

"And I wanted you to be my friend, the one who helped people in Smallville." 

"I can be that," Lex said. "And more." He leaned up and kissed Clark then, and Clark sighed with the pleasure of it. 

"I want you to make love to me, Lex. So that we cleanse the way between us." 

"Not here," Lex said. "Farmer Joe will no doubt be up soon." 

"Farmer Reilly," Clark said, chuckling. Then he simply picked Lex up in his strong arms. "Hold on tight," he said, and took off into the sky. 

  * My eyes are dull and burnt and they lie to me sometimes __
  * Cause I thought I saw you cryin' __



Lex lay beside Clark in his bed at the mansion. He had never felt so close to any person, ever, as he had when he'd been inside Clark, and Clark had been inside him. Clark had been hot, hotter than he should have been, and he'd opened to Lex like a flower. Overly romantic analogy, but there it was. It had been as though Clark had just been waiting for Lex, and he'd let him in with no resistance at all. After that, coming inside Clark had been a formality. They were sealed together now, the two of them. 

Lex smiled as he thought of how they'd flown through the sky. Clark had taken Lois flying, he knew. But Clark had never made love to Lois in complete silence; had never looked as happy as he had when Lex had been inside him. Lex knew now that the endearments Clark had bestowed on Lois had been to cover up the lack of feeling inside him. All Clark had said when they were done had been, "Lex." It was more than enough. 

  * I have stood inside this prison __
  * I have touched its stony walls __



Clark drifted back to awareness with Lex spooned around him. Everything would be all right now. No more vendetta; no more hatred. No more wishing for something that they'd both thought could never be. They had it now, and they'd keep it. 

He felt a tightening of the arm across his middle and smiled. "That was the best night of my life," he said, turning around to see his new lover's face. 

And Lex was looking at him with that blue intensity that meant he'd made his mind up about something. "What is it?" Clark asked. 

"We're going to be together," Lex said firmly, and he looked so happy that Clark actually _ached_ with the beauty of it. He leaned forward and they shared a kiss. Not a prelude-to-passion kiss, but a simple, loving, affirming kiss between two people who knew what they were to each other. 

"Yes," Clark answered. "We're going to be together. I've never wanted anything else." 

  * I know before you try to run __
  * You gotta learn to crawl __



"I love you," Lex said. He wondered how many times he'd said it this night. He knew he could never say it enough. No matter how many times he told Clark, it would never be enough to convince him that he'd made Clark feel the truth of it. "I want to announce to the world that we're together." 

Clark sat up in the bed and looked at him. "I want that, too. Absolutely." A long pause, then, "But I have to keep Superman separate from myself." Lex was about to speak, but Clark held up a hand to forestall him. "Not that we have to remain enemies - I mean, you and Superman - but we can have a slow de-escalation of hostilities." Clark grinned that cheeky grin that Lex had seen too seldom for his liking. "Besides, I think having Superman looking over your shoulder will keep you honest." 

" _You_ keep me honest," Lex replied. "You always did." 

"I love you, Lex," Clark said, and now it was Lex's turn to ache from the beauty of Clark Kent, in love with him. 

"What about Lois?" Lex asked. He knew they had separate apartments, but he'd seen Clark over at Lois's too often not to realize that they were practically living together. 

"I'll tell her," Clark promised. He shifted so that Lex was lying against his chest. "Do you want to have a press conference afterwards, make an announcement in the Planet, or just start showing up together at high-profile events?" 

"I think the press conference will be the easiest. That way we'll avoid the endless speculation and we can move on with our lives." 

They made love again, and lying in the aftermath with Clark still inside him, Lex realized something. 

Smallville had always been his place for new beginnings. He'd been reborn out of the ashes of the spoiled rich boy dependent on medication that day when the meteors had landed. He'd been reborn out of the ashes of the rebellious teenager who'd protested taking over a crap factory because it was located in a small town. And now... he'd been reborn from the ashes of the evil billionaire intent on obtaining power through any means necessary. 

He'd still do great things. He knew it. And now he could accept that Smallville had never been his prison, or his place of exile. It had been his destiny. Even his father had somehow known that, all those years ago. He'd always known he'd never be able to escape his destiny, and now he knew that not only did he not want to, he'd never needed to. Because in Smallville, he had found Clark Kent. 

  * I tried to leave it all behind me __
  * In my dreams somehow I got away __
  * But the walls of this prison still surround me __
  * And I can't break away __



**END**


End file.
